MALARIA: Drug developed to prevent parasite entry into red cell

CANBERRA, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Australian scientists on Thursday said they have found a unique way to block a malaria infection, opening up a new front in the war on the mosquito-borne parasite which infects 400 million people every year, Australian Associated Press reported on Thursday.
Researchers at the Melbourne-based Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research have identified an alternative method to that used by conventional treatments, which kills off the parasite once it has gained access to a person's red blood cells.
The institute's Dr James Beeson said the new method had proven capable of stopping the parasite from entering the cells altogether, robbing it of the safe haven it needed to multiply while hiding from the body's defenses.
"All of the currently licensed anti-malarial drugs that are used in humans act by inhibiting or slowing down the development of the parasite once it is inside the red blood cell," Beeson said.
"This (alternative) approach is to block the parasite from getting inside the red blood cell in the first place ... it would be ideal to use this approach in combination with an existing anti- malarial so it would be a two-pronged attack.
"One would try to stop the parasite from getting in and the other would be trying to stop the development of any parasite within the red blood cells."
The scientists found the blood-thinning drug heparin, which is used to treat blood clots, was effective at stopping the malaria parasite, most commonly Plasmodium falciparum, from attaching and burrowing into red blood cells.
They then developed similar molecules that boosted this effect against the parasite but had no blood-thinning effect.
Beeson said trials to ensure its safety, reformulated and "two- pronged" anti-malarial treatments could be introduced to the world in five to 10 years.
It would boost the protection for travelers in malaria-prone developing nations and provide a more effective treatment for malaria once infection took hold, resulting in less sickness and fewer deaths.
About one million people, mostly children, die as a result of malaria every year.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/health/2010-06/03/c_13331265.htm